Method of ornamenting wood



Y (No Model.)

A. TI-IALHEIMER. METHOD 0? ORNAMENTING WOOD.

Patented Oct. 4,1881.-

liwen 101' a FETERS. PhowLithngrapher, wmm m o. c.

UNITED STAT S PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT THALHE[MER, 0F READING, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF ORNAMENTING WOOD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,966, dated October 4, 1881 Application filed January 8, 1881. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT THALHEIMER, of the city of Reading, county of Berks, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful. Improvement in Wood -Veining Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This machine is more particularly adapted for the production in 1i ght-colored and cheaper woods of imitations of dark and high-priced materials.

In the accompanying drawings, in which similar figures denote similar parts, Figure l is a perspective view of the machine. Fig. 2 is a plan of the top of the machine; Fig.3, sectional details.

A represents the frame; B, the bed; 0, carrying-rollers; D, the veining-cylinder; E, the polishing shaft or bar, having knives or blunt plates E 5 F, a compression feed-drawin g roll G, the board undergoing transformation.

In constructing the veining-roller D one of two plans may be adopted: First, the roller is brought to a uniform size, after which a series of transverse cuts are made-to the proper depth for the purpose desired at regular or irregular distances apart. Then,treatingthc roller as a spindle to be threaded, a series of spirals or screw-threads are traced off of a coarse or fine ers may be stamped out with the cutting-teethupon theirperipheries, or after being clamped together, as described, may have their cuttingteeth formedin the lathe, as before mentioned. I, however, giveprefercnce to the first plan, where the cylinder is not of an inconvenient diameter.

The roll or veining-cylinder D is driven in the direction of the entering board G, and serves a double purpose, both veining and feed- ,ing the board through the machine. The knifebar shaft E runs in the same direction as the cylinder D, and has secured to it in the usual manner two or more blades, E, in this case blank or obtuse edged, and so arranged with reference to the board under treatment as to slightly compress the same by a rubbing of the obtuse-edgedknife-plate E over the surface, giving it atsmoothand finished appearance, heretofore unattainable without the use of the sandpapering-machine. The roller F at the rear of the machine assists in passing the board through the machine and serves to steady it, as is usual on all planers.

The lumber designed to be veined is all prepared in advance by dressing to size and a coloring of the desired tint. The color is applied with a sponge and can be done very rapidly and uniformly, and presents a more natural imitation than where the color is applied by rolls or block-printin g.

I am aware that it is not new to imitate by machinery the appearance of costly woods upon a cheaper material by imprinting and indenting. (See Patent No. 204,078, May 21, 1878, and Reissue No. 8,507, November 26, 1878, granted to George Pelstring, in which is shown an impression-cylinder, upon which are mountcdblocks-so constructed and arranged, in combination with inking or paint-color troughs and rolls as to receive and transfer to the board the color together with the design to be compressed or indented therein.)

In my improvement the lumber is dressed and colored previous to its introduction upon the machine, and the indentations are produced by the action of the serrated teeth of the cylinder D, removing from the same a certain portion of its material, any roughness occasioned thereby being obliterated by the action of the polishing and condensing knives E.

The improvement is applicable to all powerplancrs, the veining-cylinder D taking the place of the front upper feed-roll, and the mo tion of the cutter-bar being reversed, brings the back beveled edge of, the knife in contact with the lumber and becomes a polisher. The reversal of movement may be executed by the crossing of the belt driving the cutter-bar, if

the direct motion were derived from an open belt, or vice versa if previously driven by a crossed belt. In this way, when desired, the

machine can be used first as a planer to reduce the material to the proper thickness. Then reversing the motion, as above described, the

veining-cylinder D operating on the rough lumber as a feed-roller and on the prepared as both a feed and veinin g roll, the imitationlumber is produced upon the same machine.

The journals of the several shafts are sup portedin boxes adapted to be raised orlowered, as is usual in wood-working machines.

I do not broadly lay claim to a planing-machine for the purpose of producing a veined surface on previously dressed and colored lumher or boards; butit being most readily adapted for the reception of the veining-roll, and by the simple reversal of the motion of the cutterbar meeting all the requirements demanded by the invention, I have suggested that machine as making the simplest and most inexpensive to which my improvement could be applied.

My claim is as follows, to wit:

The method herein described of ornament- 2o ing wood, which consists in passing smooth and previously-colored boards through a planer such as described, whereby the surface of the lumber is routed or torn by the toothed feedroll D, and the surface is then planished by 25 the planing-knives E revolving in the reverse direction, as set forth, and for the purpose substa-n tiall y as described. 

